


Cars and a Crucifix

by titC



Series: February 2017 - Month of Twu Wuv! [1]
Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Gen, I couldn’t help myself, also Dan is trying to be a good guy, and Ella likes cars a leettle too much, and not shady, he’s trying hard to be manly, lol, poor guy, there’s some underhanded Deckerstar feels in there, we all want to know more about her fam right
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-04
Updated: 2017-02-04
Packaged: 2018-09-22 01:13:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9575315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/titC/pseuds/titC
Summary: For a prompt by Skaoi:Dan asks Ella out to the Paddock for beers, "So....you stole cars?"Ella spills (some of) the beans, not the beer.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [skaoi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/skaoi/gifts).



> I don't know if this is what you had in mind, but after much brain squeezing, this is the juice I got. ... this didn't sound right.  
> Thank you to BecomeMyObsession and Moonatoms for your help!

Dan spotted Ella swaying to the music in her ears while she was tidying and cleaning her workbench, and the sight made him smile. He opened the door to her lab and waited until she spotted him and removed her earbuds.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Hey, so, uh.” He rubbed his neck. “Chloe’s going to be fine, so, you know. Thank you. You and your not entirely lawful brother, I guess.” He tried a smile, but it probably looked horribly awkward. He _felt_ horribly awkward.

“Oh, well, no probs. Chloe’s my friend, right?”

“Yeah.” She raised her eyebrows up at him, probably expecting something more. Right, yes, he was still standing there being useless and silent and probably looking, well, like a douche. Hah. “So uh, can I take you out for a drink after work?” A sly smile started to creep on her face. “I mean…! No, not like that, I don’t want – but you know, like, a ‘we did it’ drink at the Paddock?”

“Hah! Your face. Yeah, sure! But aren’t you keeping your daughter while Chloe’s still in the hospital?”

“Well, Maze agreed to stay with her so Trix can stay in her home.” He was sleeping on the couch there for the week though, because Maze was definitely not a morning person and school, like it or not, started in the morning. And it was probably good for their little monkey to have a parent with her, even if she adored Maze. “I need to finish up some stuff, an hour from now good for you?”

“You bet. But you’re driving me there.”

“Wait, you don’t have a car?”

She only grinned and pushed him through the door with a wink. Well, there would certainly be no lack of conversation topics, he thought as he walked back to his desk.

 

“Ella, you have to spill. How can you not have a car? I mean, you said you used to steal them, how can you do without?” He focused on not going over the speed limit, because he felt there were already too many shady shady things to his name. It wouldn’t do to add to it, he wanted Trixie to be proud of him. Hopefully she’d never know about – no, he shouldn’t let his mind go there. He cocked an ear in Ella’s direction, keeping the road in his sight. “Come on, you can tell me.”

“I’ll give you three guesses, mister Detective.”

“Oh man. OK, hmm. You’re forbidden to?”

“Never got arrested.”

“Okay, yeah, I guess you wouldn’t be in the police if you had. Uh, you can’t afford the car you’d like?”

“Not a bad guess, but no.”

He spotted a place just big enough to park the car and turned the blinker on. “You do have a driving license, yeah?”

She snickered. “Of course I do.” They got out of the car and elbowed their way to the counter to get their beers – well, he elbowed, she ducked and weaved and snuck under flailing arms. She gestured at a corner table and they made their way there, Dan punching some shoulders (the manly thing to do) and Ella not spilling a drop when she hugged fellow forensics people (the Ella thing to do, he supposed).

“So, come on, tell me!” He put the cold glass against the cut on his cheek, still smarting from the beating the day before.

“Ah well, it’s just I can’t drive a car not fast, you know? I just have to always push them to the limit, and that’s behind me now. My car-stealing, car-racing days are over.”

“Law-enforcement sis should play by the rules?” They knocked glasses and took a swallow.

“Yeah. I mean, someone’s gotta be the lawful one in the family, you know?”

He nodded, wondering if he was the unlawful one in his. “Do you miss it?”

“Well, it _is_ fun and exciting, sure; but only until someone dies or ends up in a wheelchair.” It looked like there was history there, but maybe now wasn’t the time to ask.

“Your brother’s still into it?”

“I think he doesn’t race anymore, but he’s definitely still tweaking cars. He’s always been a good mechanic.” She peered more closely at his face. “How did you get that? You never said.”

“When Lucifer and I went to follow up a lead.”

“And you found some fists on the way?”

“Basically, yeah.”

“I bet he didn’t get a scratch on him.”

“No, that jerk. Did you know he gets out of handcuffs like I take off my shirt?” She raised her eyebrows. “I mean, or my jacket. You know.” Fuck, why did he say things like that? Not smooth, Espinoza; she’s gonna get the wrong idea. “Anyway, I mean. Maybe you can too, given the way you can pick locks?”

“Well yeah, if I have to I can take them off, but it’s painful and it takes me a little time.”

“He’s a freak then.”

“Eh, I like him.”

“He’s a dick. But he did get the antidote formula for Chloe, somehow.”

“He looked pretty bad when we saw him at the lab, so I guess it wasn’t just greasing a dude’s hands in some fishy business deal.”

They’d rushed there with the ingredients, Ella and him, and found Morningstar half-collapsed on a chair, clutching a flask over the formula he’d scribbled on a piece of paper while the UCLA people demanded how he’d found it and whether it was a good idea and his brother (who didn’t look or sound like him at all but _definitely_ acted like  a big bro) hovered over him and tried to get him to drink some water.

Lucifer Morningstar, arrogant, insane and alcoholic playboy, secret chemistry graduate and fluent in Chinese, pianist and drug addict, self-hater and Chloe-lover. And all-around prick.

“I don’t know how he did it, but he got the job done.”

“You both did.”

He didn’t feel like he’d done much, though. “We all did. Thank you, Ella, really. Without you, we wouldn’t have saved her either, and Trixie…”

“Yeah.” She took a long pull from her glass. “So hey, since you seem to suck at locks, do you think I should tutor your girl? Like, transmit my knowledge to the younger generations or something?”

Dan choked on his own beer. “I thought you said you were the not-shady family member.”

“Well, sure; but imagine, she might get kidnapped or something, right? It’s self-defense!”

He grimaced. “Actually, we got the kidnapping experience covered.”

“Oh man, no.”

“Nah, it ended up… not too badly. I mean she still goes to see a child therapist from time to time, but she’s fine now. She’s fine.” He smiled. “And honestly, I think Maze is already teaching her things I don’t want to know about.”

“Oh, yeah, I bet. Still, I should talk to her; we could plan a curriculum. I’m sure there are things she hasn’t covered yet.”

“Just don’t tell me about it, I really don’t want to know.” He drained his beer. “Want another one?”

She considered for a minute. “Yeah, why not.”

“Same thing? I know it’s not the best beer out there, but…”

“Still better than church wine. Never try to get drunk on church wine.”

“I’ll try to remember that.” He fought his way to the bar and back, managing to keep all their beer inside the glasses. “Here you are.”

“Hey, thanks.” The glint in her eye made him suddenly wary. “So you and Charlotte Richards, how is it going? Or was it just a one-time fling?”

Dan didn’t spew beer all over the table, but it was a near thing. “Ella…!” She only smiled sweetly at him. “It was a mistake. Not doing it again.” Definitely.

“So you’re free? I can try and hook you up with friends of mine?”

“No, just – no! I mean, I don’t think I’m ready to hook up with anyone right now.” He shuddered. Charlotte had certainly refrigerated him in the casual sex department. “You?”

“Eh, I’m single, and not unhappy with it at the mo’. I haven’t been here long enough to know a lot of people anyway, so.” She raised her glass and saluted him with it. “I’m also kind of trying to _not_ have random sex with strangers anymore.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Why? Because of…” He gestured at the crucifix around her neck. “I mean, that’s a pretty personal question, you don’t have to answer.”

"Nah, it’s fine. No, it’s mostly because it’s backfired one time too many, you know?”

Boy, did he know. “Ah, yeah.”

They shared a knowing smile, and when their glasses got empty she hugged him and went out to hop in an Uber. He contemplated driving to Venice after two beers and risking a DIU until he finally decided to go the lawful way as well.

He, too, could try to be better.

**Author's Note:**

> Bonus: a hilarious Queen song!  
> [I'm In Love With My Car](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcXAelymbTI) (Freddie has lots of beers on the piano and Roger sings while banging them drums! vroooom - totally appropriate for Ella)


End file.
